he maritime industry is just
beginning to scratch the
surface of leveraging the disruptive power of the Internet of
Things (IoT). Drones are being
deployed by classification societies to conduct inspections, reduce cost and increase
safety; fleet monitoring systems are being
used to gain new operational insight and
improve vessel performance and efficiency;
and unmanned and remotely operated vessels are being used or tested for port security
and point-to-point routes.
So, you might ask, how “digital ready” is
the maritime industry—which is notoriously slow to adapt new technologies?
Companies such as Rolls-Royce and
Wärtsilä are aggressively transforming
themselves to support the maritime industry’s journey into the digital age by focusing
on smart initiatives and technologies, such
as artificial intelligence, data analytics, block
chain and cyber security.
“Digital disruption is already affecting
the energy and marine sectors and will do
so increasingly in the future,” said Wärtsilä’s Chief Digital Office and Executive Vice
President Marco Ryan. “We are building on
decades of expertise in digital development
and accelerating the pace at which we build
new digital solutions, services and opportunities for our customers.”
18 Marine Log // August 2017

One of several initiatives underway at
Rolls-Royce is the creation of an open source
digital platform for use in the development
of new ships. Working with The Norwegian
University of Technology Science, SINTEF Ocean and DNV GL, Rolls-Royce plans
to create a “digital twin” platform—a virtual model of the ship—that will allow any
aspect of an asset to be explored through a
digital interface, creating a virtual test bench
to assess the safety and performance of a
vessel and its systems, both before its construction and through its lifecycle.
Asbjørn Skaro, Director Digital & Systems, Rolls-Royce – Marine said, “The
platform will enable us to build digital twins
of real ships, which in turn will form the
basis for novel ways of designing, constructing, verifying and operating new maritime
concepts and technology.”

How Ready is the Industry?
A critical part of digitalization and automation will be reliable broadband services
and networks. A study conducted earlier this
year tried to assess the current state of satcom and IT services at shipping companies.
Conducted by Lloyd’s List Intelligence and
Ovum on behalf of satcom services companies Marlink in association with iDirect and
Intelsat, the Maritime Industry at the Dawn
of Digitalization study says that two-thirds

of those surveyed had standardized satellite
communications and IT solutions and 81%
of the companies had more than five staff
members in ICT positions.
However, only about 30% of the maritime
companies interviewed believed that they
were “well advanced” or “in progress” with
their digital transformation strategies. The
maritime industry is lagging behind companies in other industries, where about 60%
of companies believe they are on the path to
digital transformation. That’s based on data
from Ovum’s annual ICT Enterprise Insights
Survey of 7,000 CIOs.
The Maritime Industry at the Dawn of
Digitalization study also points out that
the most common digital solutions that
are already deployed on vessels are navigation/ECDIS, on-board wireless networks,
standardized vessel IT-infrastructure and
software and maintenance, monitoring,
analytics, and remotemanagement solutions.
Generally, VSAT is more common in shipping companies with larger fleets—80%, for
example for fleets of 450 vessels or more.
On the other hand, navigation/ECDIS is
more common among the smaller shipping
companies—ones with fewer than 20 vessels—that participated in the survey. .
About half of the shipping companies surveyed rank new and better connectivity ship
to shore as the most valuable technology.